System and Method for Verifying User Supplied Items Asserted About the User For Searching

ABSTRACT

A system and method validates user supplied photographs and/or characteristics using a video, audio or series of images of the user responding to instructions, and uses such validation in searching and/or matching.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of attorney docket number 1857, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 1857 Entitled, “System and Method forVerifying User Supplied Items Asserted About the User For Searchingand/or Matching” filed by Alexander F. Mehr, Shayan Zadeh, Jared R.Crane on Jul. 11, 2016, to be issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,716,705 on Jul.25, 2017, which is a continuation of attorney docket number 1822, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/634,831 entitled, “System and Method forVerifying User Supplied Items Asserted About the User” filed byAlexander F. Mehr, Shayan Zadeh, Jared R. Crane, and Joshua DouglasRoyse on Feb. 28, 2015, to be issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,391,974 on Jul.12, 2016, which claims the benefit of attorney docket number 1784, U.S.Provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/946,425 entitled, “Method andApparatus for Verifying User Supplied Items Asserted About the User”filed by Alexander F. Mehr, Shayan Zadeh, Jared R. Crane and JoshuaDouglas Royse on Feb. 28, 2014, each having the same assignee as thepresent application, and each is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to computer software and hardware andmore specifically to computer software for securities analysis andtrading.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Some web sites allow a user to supply items asserted to describe thatuser. This arrangement may be suboptimal. What is needed is a system andmethod that can allow items supplied by a user to be verified.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

A system and method allows a user of a website to supply informationabout that user, such as descriptions of characteristics the user isasserted to possess and/or one or more photographs of that user that areasserted to represent the user's current appearance. Any such items maybe displayed to that user or to other users with a symbol indicatingwhether they have been verified within a certain period of time. Theuser or a different user may request that such items not displaying suchverification symbol be verified. If a different user requests theverification, the user who supplied the characteristics or photographsis alerted and requested to participate.

If the user agrees, or if the user was the user who requestedverification, the user is instructed to pose or perform other actions infront of a camera that is part of, or coupled to, the user's device,while the device records a video, audio or series of images of the userwho is following the instructions. The user can see the video or seriesof images and/or listen to the audio, and approve or retry, and if theuser approves, the video, audio or series of images is uploaded to aserver. A moderator views the video, audio or series of images, and thecharacteristic and/or photograph being verified, and indicates whetherthe user in the video, audio or series of images or a series of imagesgenerated from the video, appears to possess the one or morecharacteristics, or has the appearance of the user in the one or morephotographs. The video or images may be two or three dimensional.

The moderator may be human, computer, or a combination of human andcomputer, for example, a computer may compare the images from the videoand the photographs and suggest whether each photograph and/orcharacteristic should be verified, with a human approving or denying thesuggestion. Human users may be employees of a web site that received thephotographs and/or characteristics, a user who has requestedverification of a different user's photographs, a mechanical turkparticipant, or other person.

The user whose photographs or characteristics were being verified isinformed of the results of the verification, and the user who requestedverification, if different from the user whose photographs and/orcharacteristics were being verified, is notified of a positiveverification. When users subsequently view the photographs and/orcharacteristics, a symbol indicating verification of the photographand/or characteristic is displayed near such item if the verificationwas successful and not older than a threshold amount of time.

In one embodiment, the characteristics that may be verified are thosethat are visible in the photograph, such as body style, height, presenceof hair and weight, though they may not be visible in a verifiablemanner.

In one embodiment, users whose photographs or characteristics areverified or users who are verified in response to a request forverification made by the user whose photographs or characteristics areultimately verified may be shown earlier in search results than userswho are not so verified, with users who request their own photographsand/or characteristics to be verified having the highest increase inposition in search results (when another user searches based oncharacteristic matching and the like), users whose photographs orcharacteristics are verified in response to another user's requesthaving the next highest increase in position in search results, andusers not verified having no increase in position due to verification.

Having more or a higher percentage of photographs and/or characteristicsof the user that are verified may increase the number of matches or thepopularity of the other users with which the matches occur, andverifications requested by the user who supplied the photograph may havean increased effect in this regard than verifications requested by otherusers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block schematic diagram of a conventional computer system.

FIG. 2, consisting of FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, is a flowchart illustrating amethod of validating user-supplied items according to one embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block schematic diagram of a system for validatinguser-supplied items according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention may be implemented as computer software,optionally in non-transitory form, running on a conventional computersystem including one or more hardware processors. Referring now to FIG.1, a conventional computer system 150 for practicing the presentinvention is shown. Processor 160 retrieves and executes softwareinstructions stored in storage 162 such as memory, which may be RandomAccess Memory (RAM) and may control other components to perform thepresent invention. Storage 162 may be used to store program instructionsor data or both. Storage 164, such as a computer disk drive or othernonvolatile storage, may provide storage of data or programinstructions. In one embodiment, storage 164 provides longer termstorage of instructions and data, with storage 162 providing storage fordata or instructions that may only be required for a shorter time thanthat of storage 164.

All storage elements described herein may include conventional memoryand/or disk storage and may include a conventional database. The only“nonce word” to be used herein is the word “means”: all elements ofsystem claims not using “means for” are to be interpreted as structural.All system elements may include a conventional hardware computerprocessor, and may include at least one input, at least one output andat least one input/output

Input device 166 such as a computer keyboard or mouse or both allowsuser input to the system 150. Output 168, such as a display or printer,allows the system to provide information such as instructions, data orother information to the user of the system 150. Storage input device170 such as a conventional floppy disk drive or CD-ROM drive accepts viainput 172 computer program products 174 such as a conventional floppydisk or CD-ROM or other nonvolatile storage media that may be used totransport computer instructions or data to the system 150. Computerprogram product 174 has encoded thereon computer readable program codedevices 176, such as magnetic charges in the case of a floppy disk oroptical encodings in the case of a CD-ROM which are encoded as programinstructions, data or both to configure the computer system 150 tooperate as described below.

In one embodiment, each computer system 150 is a conventional SUNMICROSYSTEMS T SERIES SERVER running the SOLARIS operating systemcommercially available from ORACLE CORPORATION of Redwood Shores,California, a PENTIUM-compatible personal computer system such as areavailable from DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION of Round Rock, Texas running aversion of the WINDOWS operating system (such as XP, VISTA, or 7)commercially available from MICROSOFT Corporation of Redmond Washingtonor a Macintosh computer system running the MACOS or OPENSTEP operatingsystem commercially available from APPLE INCORPORATED of Cupertino,California and the FIREFOX browser commercially available from MOZILLAFOUNDATION of Mountain View, California or INTERNET EXPLORER browsercommercially available from MICROSOFT above, although other systems maybe used. Each computer system 150 may be a SAMSUNG GALAXY NEXUS IIIcommercially available from SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS GLOBAL of Seoul, Korearunning the ANDROID operating system commercially available from GOOGLE,INC. of Mountain View, Calif. Various computer systems may be employed,with the various computer systems communicating with one another via theInternet, a conventional cellular telephone network, an Ethernetnetwork, or all of these.

Referring now to FIG. 2A, a method of verifying photographs is shownaccording to one embodiment of the present invention. One or morephotographs, and characteristics of a user supplying the photographsand, at least in some cases, in the photographs, is received 210 from auser of a website which performs the features described herein. In oneembodiment, characteristics of the user supplying the photographs mayinclude demographic information such as height, weight and sex,explanations of activities in which the user has or is willing toparticipate, preferences including sexual preferences, and otherinformation about that user. The photographs and characteristics may bechanged at any time as indicated by the dashed line in the Figure. Anynumber of different photographs and different characteristics may bereceived from any number of different users, and the photographs andcharacteristics received from one user may be different from thosereceived from another user. Each of several photographs received fromone user may be different from the other photographs supplied by thatuser, though a user may only supply one photograph.

A request to display one or more photographs and characteristics of oneuser is received from another user 212. The request may be received froma user who has performed a conventional search of the userscharacteristics, or by receiving a user identifier of a user, such asfrom a link to that user identifier supplied via a match made by acomputer system that matches characteristics of the users in an attemptto find compatible users, or via a received message from the user. Anyuser may perform any number of the same or different searches or receiveany number of different messages from the same or different users.

A first photograph or characteristic of the user corresponding to therequest is selected 214. In one embodiment, as described herein, and inmore detail below, each photograph and/or one or more characteristicssupplied by the user may or may not be associated with a verificationindication, which may include a date, such as the date the verificationwas performed. A check may be performed 216 to determine if the selectedphotograph or characteristic is associated with an indication that itwas verified, and that the verification date is not older than athreshold amount of time from the current date, i.e. expired. If theselected photograph or characteristic has a verification indicationindicating that it has been verified, and the verification indication isnot expired, the photograph or characteristic is provided for display218 to the user from which the request was received in step 212 with asymbol indicating that the photograph or characteristic has beenverified. The method continues at step 224. If the selected photographor characteristic was not verified, or the verification indication hasexpired 218, the photograph or characteristic is displayed 222, withouta verification symbol, but is displayed with a user interface controlthat allows the user that requested the photograph or characteristic torequest the verification of the photograph or characteristic.

In one embodiment, only some, but not all, characteristics can beverified, and so only those characteristics that can be verified aredisplayed with the user interface control that allows theirverification. Such characteristics may include height, weight, bodystyle, the presence of hair, and age.

Each time the photograph or characteristic is provided for display, theverification indication of the photograph or characteristic is used asdescribed herein, and may change at different times causing theverification symbol to be displayed at one time and not displayed at adifferent time.

In one embodiment, there are limits associated with requestingverification of photographs or characteristics by a user. Such limitsmay include a limit on the number of users whose photographs orcharacteristics may be requested for verification as described herein byany single user, optionally, within a certain period of time. Forexample, a user may make no more than one such request, or one suchrequest per month or per quarter. In such embodiment, the verificationrequest user interface control will not be displayed if the user hasreached the limit on the number of verification requests, although insuch case, the photograph or characteristic will be displayed, thoughwithout the verification symbol if the other criteria are not met. Inone embodiment, the verification request user interface control will notbe displayed with a photograph or characteristic that has beenpreviously verified within a certain period of time, i.e. is verifiedand the verification is not expired as described above.

If there are more photographs or characteristics 224, the nextphotograph of the user whose photographs and characteristics wererequested is selected 226, and the method continues at step 216 usingthe newly selected photograph or characteristic. If there are no morephotographs or characteristics 224, the method continues at step 212,and/or step 230.

At step 230, the user viewing the photographs or characteristics beingdisplayed may request verification of any photographs that has not beenverified or that has been verified, but whose verification has expired,and such request is received 230. In one embodiment, the request may bereceived in response to the user selecting one or more of the userinterface controls described above respect step 222. The user requestingverification may be a user other than the user whose photographs orcharacteristics are being verified, and in another embodiment, the userwhose photographs or characteristics are being verified may requestverification either instead of, or in addition to, such other users. Insuch embodiment, if the user requests verification of one or more of hisor her own photographs or characteristics, step 236 follows step 230 asindicated by the dashed line in the Figure.

In one embodiment, users whose photographs or characteristics areverified or users who are verified in response to a request forverification made by the user whose photographs or characteristics areultimately verified may be shown earlier in search results than userswho are not so verified, with users who request their own photographsand/or characteristics to be verified having the highest increase inposition in search results (when another user searches based oncharacteristic matching and the like), users whose photographs orcharacteristics are verified in response to another user's requesthaving the next highest increase in position in search results, andusers not verified having no increase in position due to verification.In one embodiment, a user with two or more photographs orcharacteristics verified will receive a higher increase in position thana user with only one photograph or characteristic verified. In oneembodiment, a user with a larger proportion of photographs and/orcharacteristics verified will receive a higher increase in position thana user with a lower proportion of photographs and/or characteristicsverified. All such increases in position in this paragraph refer toincrease in positions of search results of the user with respect toother users whose information is shown in response to a search requestwith the criteria for appearing in the search made at least in part fromcharacteristics supplied by the users who show up in the results. A userwho is contacted by another user who found the user in a search in whichthe user's position was increased based on the user's photographs havingbeen verified as described herein could view the other user's profileand request verification of one or more photographs and/orcharacteristics of the other user.

Users whose photographs and/or characteristics are verified as describedherein may be matched with other users more frequently or with otherusers who are more popular (as measured by actions many other users takewith respect to such other user, such as clicking on their profile whenit shows up in a list, sending messages to such other user, or replyingto messages sent by such other user, or sending messages with certaincontent such as a positive response to a date request) than would haveoccurred if one or more of the user's photographs and/or characteristicswere not verified. Having more or a higher percentage of photographsand/or characteristics of the user that are verified may increase thenumber of matches or the popularity of the other users with which thematches occur, and verifications requested by the user who supplied thephotograph may have an increased effect in this regard thanverifications requested by other users. A user matched in this fashioncould receive a link to another user with whom the user is matched basedon the user having verified photographs and/or characteristics, click onthe link, and request verification of the other user's photographsand/or characteristics as described herein 258.

In one embodiment, a listing of users who match a search request isdisplayed with a subset of photographs and/or characteristics of eachuser who corresponds to the search request. The requesting user can thenclick on a link corresponding to any one user and a more complete set ofphotographs and characteristics will then be displayed. In oneembodiment, even if the photographs or characteristics displayed at thefirst listing are not verified, a verification symbol may be displayedif the user has at least one photograph or characteristic verified, evenif it not displayed at that point.

In response to the receipt of the request by a user who has not exceededany limits on such requests, the user who supplied the photographs orcharacteristics for which the request for verification was made isrequested to verify the photos and/or characteristics 232. The user mayapprove the request, or ignore the request. If the user ignores therequest 234, in one embodiment, the branch of the method will wait forthe request to be accepted 234.

When the user accepts the request 234, a camera and/or microphone on theuser device from which the request was accepted is enabled, and the useris provided with instructions to follow while the camera is recording avideo, audio file or series of images of the user following suchinstructions 236. As used herein a “series of images” may include avideo or other similar series of images. The instructions may includepointing the camera at a certain portion of the user's body, turning theuser's body (or a portion of it) in a certain direction, such as facingthe camera, or performing a pose or a set of actions. As the userfollows the instructions, the camera records the video or series ofimages and/or microphone records audio, of the user followinginstructions. The instructions may include those that can be used toverify the one or more characteristics for which verification wasrequested, for example, asking the user to stand in a doorway and showthe entire doorway when a verification of a user's height characteristicis requested, or to rub the top of his head vigorously when averification of a user's hair is requested or asking a user to repeat anEnglish phrase in Spanish if verification of multiple languages isrequested. The instructions may include those which make it easy toverify the person in the video is the same person in the photographs,for example, by displaying a photograph to the user and asking the userto appear in the video in the same position and distance relative to thecamera as the user is in the photograph, and optionally repeating thisprocess for each photograph being verified.

In one embodiment, the user may select any of the photographs andindicate that the user is not in the photograph, or point to one ofseveral people in the photograph to indicate which person in thephotograph is the user. If the user indicates that the user is not inthe photograph, the photograph is not verified in one embodiment. Theindication that the user is not in the photograph, or the location ofthe user among other people in the photograph may be stored associatedwith the photograph, such information may be displayed with subsequentdisplay of the photograph, and any location information may be used toverify the photograph as described below.

In one embodiment, the video may instead be substituted with any seriesof multiple images, such as 3D images. The video may be a 3D video.

After the instructions are complete, the video, audio and/or images ofthe user following the instructions is displayed to the user as part ofstep 236 and the user may perform one of two actions: accept the video,or request to retry. If the user requests to retry 238, the methodcontinues at step 236. In one embodiment, if the user requests to retry,the instructions provided in a subsequent trial will not be or may notbe exactly the same as the instructions provided in any prior try ofstep 236.

If the user approves the video, audio or series of images 238, the video(including audio or separate audio) or series of images is uploaded fromthe user device to a different one or more computer system on which thevideo, or a series of images from the video, may be viewed or processedby a moderator, and the video, or a series of images from the video, aredisplayed to the moderator with the photographs of the user 240. In oneembodiment, all photographs received from the user are displayed to, orprocessed by, the moderator with the video, audio or series of images,and in another embodiment only photographs not previously verified andthose whose verifications have expired are displayed to, or processedby, the moderator with the video, audio or series of images, and inanother embodiment only the photograph selected by the user aredisplayed to, or processed by, the moderator with the video. In oneembodiment, the uploaded video is converted into a series of images atstep 240. In one embodiment, the display of the video, audio or seriesof images and the one or more photographs or characteristics is madeadditionally with a user interface control that allows the moderator toaccept or decline to verify that the person in the one or morephotographs and the person in the video appear to be the same person orthe person in the video has the characteristics being verified 240. Themoderator uses one or the other control to indicate that the one or morephotographs are verified or not verified in such indication is received242. In one embodiment, verification of photographs is made if the userfollows the instructions in the video and appears to look like a personin the photos, and verification of characteristics is made if the userappears to have one or more of the characteristics supplied by that user(e.g. an athletic body style or correctly speaks a language indicated asspoken by that user).

In one embodiment, conventional image or speech recognition techniquesmay be used to identify via a computer whether the user in the video,audio or series of images appears to have followed the instructions, andso the moderator may be, at least in part, a computer system. In oneembodiment, conventional facial recognition techniques may be used toidentify via a computer whether the user in the video or series ofimages matches a user in the photographs. The computer performing theserecognition techniques may, based upon their outcome, provide asuggestion to the moderator as to whether or not to verify the photos,or either a verification or no verification suggestion of the computermay be used as if it were the human moderator's determination, with onlythe other determination being routed to a human moderator forverification. In one embodiment, only a computer is used as themoderator, with humans occasionally checking the moderator's decisions.

In one embodiment, conventional image or speech recognition techniquesmay be used to identify (or the moderator may also verify the usersubject to) whether the user in the video appears to havecharacteristics that match some of the characteristics the user hasspecified, for example determining if the user has hair or has a bodystyle identified in the characteristics.

In one embodiment, conventional image recognition techniques may be usedto identify the user's height, for example, when the user followsinstructions to stand in a doorway or hold a basketball. The size of astandard doorway or basketball may be identified, and the image of itrecognized in the video or series of images and used to identify theheight of the user by proportion.

A human moderator may be supplied via mechanical turk, which is anonline marketplace for short term work, or from other users who supplyphotos and/or characteristics as described above. Other users may bemotivated to perform the tasks of a moderator because they are givencredits on the web site on which the verification requests are received.Credits may be used to obtain other features of the web site or may berequired to make a verification request, or to have it carried out. Insuch embodiment, a user may be required to have acted as a moderator forat least three user's images before that user's verification request isaccepted or carried out.

One or more human moderators may always be supplied if thecharacteristic being verified requires a subjective determination, suchas whether the person in the video, audio or series of images can singor dance.

The method continues at step 252 of FIG. 2B.

In one embodiment, when a decision about verification of the photographsand/or characteristics has been made, either by a computer system or amoderator, the video, audio or series of images for the verification isdeleted, optionally after a delay to allow for an appeal process,whereby the user may appeal the decision, optionally with additionalinformation, and the video, audio or series of images is reused torepeat the verification process described herein. The user may beinformed of the deletion prior to submitting the video, audio or seriesof images so that the user may be motivated to perform certain actionsin the video that he or she may be inhibited from performing if the userknew the video, audio or series of images would not be deleted afteruse.

At step 252, if the user in the video, audio or series of images and thephotographs and/or characteristics is verified, the user verified isnotified that the verification process was successful, and the requesterof the verification is also similarly notified 254. As part of step 254,the date and time of verification is stored associated with thephotographs and/or characteristics verified, for use at the next displayof the photographs and/or characteristics, as described herein.

In one embodiment, verification user-interface controls of step 240 areprovided on a photograph by photograph, or characteristic bycharacteristic basis, to allow the moderator to verify only some, butnot all, the photographs and/or characteristics as described herein. Insuch embodiments, the notifications of step 254 indicate whichphotographs were verified, and the date and time is stored only with theone or more photographs or characteristics that were verified, but notwith the other photographs or characteristics from the same user. If theindication received from moderator is not to verify one or morephotographs or characteristics 252, the user whose photographs are beingverified is informed of the failure of the verification 256, and theuser is requested to re-perform the video, audio or series of images andinstructions technique of step 236, or provide more accurate photographsand/or characteristics in step 210, and potentially remove the one ormore photographs that were not verified or change the characteristic orcharacteristics not verified. The method continues at step 234, waitingfor the new request to be accepted.

In one embodiment, verification of one or more photographs orcharacteristics is performed via a majority vote of three or moremoderators who have viewed the video and seen the one or morephotographs and/or characteristics being verified, instead of using asingle moderator. If the majority votes against verification of a photoor characteristic, that photo or characteristic is not verified.

Once a user's photographs and/or characteristics have been verified, thenext time a different user requests the display of photographs andcharacteristics of that user, the verification symbol of step 222 isdisplayed with the verified photographs and characteristics.

In one embodiment, if a verification request is received for one or morephotographs and/or characteristics in step 230, such request isassociated with the one or more photographs and/or characteristics, andan indication that verification of each photograph or characteristic ispending is displayed in step 222 with the one or more photographs and/orcharacteristics for which verification was requested but notsuccessfully received, optionally with the date of the request.

As used herein, the term “upharacteristic” means a user suppliedcharacteristic value (such as height, weight, body style, presence ofhair, etc.) or photograph that is intended to represent the user whosupplied it to other users of a service.

System.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a system 300 for verifying and displayinguser-supplied photographs and/or characteristics is shown according toone embodiment of the present invention.

Communication interface 302 includes a conventional communicationinterface coupled to a network such as an Ethernet network, the Internetor both, via input/output 301. Communication interface 302 runs suitablecommunications protocols, such as TCP/IP, Ethernet or both. Unlessotherwise specified, all communication with the system of FIG. 3 is madevia communication interface 302.

A user may log into the system of FIG. 3 using user interface manager308, which supplies a user interface to receive a user identifier andpassword, authenticates the user using conventional techniques against ausername and password previously stored into photograph/characteristicstorage 304, issues a unique session identifier to the user, and storessuch session identifier into photograph/characteristic storage 304associated with the user identifier, and also stores the sessionidentifier onto a device from which the user is communicating to thesystem of FIG. 3 via a conventional cookie or secure storage file, orother similar technique. Unless otherwise specified, other elements ofFIG. 3 numbered 308 or higher reads such identifier, locates it inphotograph/characteristic storage 304 and obtains the user identifierfrom it as needed as they perform the functions described below.

When the user has authenticated himself or herself to user interfacemanager 308, user interface manager 308 supplies user interface elementssuch as via one or more links that allow a user to supply photographsand/or characteristics as described herein, search for users, viewmessages from users, or view their own supplied photographs and/orcharacteristics. If the user selects the user interface element tosupply photographs and/or characteristics, the user interface elementsignals photograph/characteristic receiver 310.

Supply Photographs and/or Characteristics.

When signaled, photograph/characteristic receiver 310 receives from eachof the several users of a web site, photographs that include images ofthat user, and characteristics describing that user.Photograph/characteristic receiver 310 stores such photographs and/orcharacteristics into photograph/characteristic storage 304, associatedwith the identifier of the user that supplied such photograph, alongwith a unique serial number it issues for each photograph.

View Messages.

If the user requests to view messages, user interface manager 308provides a user interface to allow the user to see messages sent to thatuser. Each message may be listed with the message header as a link in alist of messages, and when the user clicks a link, user interfacemanager 308 displays the message corresponding to the link and ausername of the user who sent the message, as a link. Such messages mayhave been sent using any conventional messaging method. If the userclicks the link corresponding to the user who sent the message,photograph/characteristic display manager 312 is signaled with theidentifier of the user, such information having been embedded in thelink.

Search.

If the user requests to perform a search, user-interface manager 308provides a user interface to allow the user to provide searchparameters, such as values or ranges of values of characteristics withwhich to perform the search. User-interface manager 308 receives suchparameters, searches for other users corresponding to the searchparameters using information from such other users stored inphotograph/characteristic storage 304. User-interface manager 308displays a list of such users that correspond to the user's search, andmay include one or more photos, and a subset of the characteristics thatsuch user has provided and are stored in photograph/characteristicstorage 304. Each user in the list may be displayed as a link, and whenthe user selects one such link, photograph/characteristic displaymanager 312 is signaled with the identifier of the user, suchinformation being embedded in the link.

View User's Own Photographs and Characteristics.

If the user requests to view the user's own photographs andcharacteristics, operating the user interface element such as the linksignals photograph/characteristic display manager 312 with the useridentifier of that user.

View Photograph and/or Characteristics of a User.

When signaled with the identifier of the user, photograph/characteristicdisplay manager 312 displays the photographs and characteristicsassociated with the user corresponding to the identifier it receives,such photographs and characteristics being stored inphotograph/characteristic storage 304. Each photograph, and/or each ofsome of the characteristics, is associated in photograph/characteristicstorage 304 with a verification indication that indicates whether thephotographs or characteristics have been verified as described herein.Each such photograph and/or characteristic associated with averification indication that is not expired as described above isdisplayed by photograph/characteristic display manager 312 with averification symbol indicating that the photograph or characteristic wasverified as described herein.

Photographs and/or characteristics that may be verified, and that arenot associated with an unexpired verification indication indicating thatthe photograph or characteristic has been verified within a thresholdamount of time, are displayed by photograph/characteristic displaymanager 312 with a user interface control that allows the user torequest verification of the photograph and/or characteristic. Forexample, the user interface control may be a check box, and the user maycheck boxes displayed with each photograph and/or characteristic theuser wishes to have verified as described herein, and then press asubmit button that was also provided by photograph/characteristicdisplay manager 312.

In one embodiment, limits as to the number of requests for verificationa user may make are enforced by photograph/characteristic displaymanager 312 as described above, using the information associated withthe requests received that is stored in photograph/characteristicstorage 304. Photograph/characteristic display manager 312 enforces suchlimits by not displaying the user interface controls to a user who hasexceeded such limit. In on embodiment, a user's request to verify his orher own photograph and/or characteristic is not counted against suchlimits.

Receive Request to Verify.

When the user presses the submit button, it signals verification requestreceiver 330 with an indication of the check boxes or other userinterface controls that the user had selected for verifying thecorresponding photographs and/or characteristics, and the useridentifier of the user that had supplied the photographs and/orcharacteristics.

When it receives such information, verification request receiver 330issues a unique serial number to the verification request, and storesinto photograph/characteristic storage 304 with the unique serialnumber, the date and time, the identifiers of the photographs, indicesof the characteristics, or both for which verification was requested,and the user identifier of the requesting user and the user identifierof the user who provided such photographs and/or characteristics.

Verification request receiver 330 identifies whether the verificationrequest came from the user who had supplied the photographs and/orcharacteristics, or from a different user, for example by using thecookie or secure storage information to identify the user who made therequest, and compare it to the user identifier of the user that suppliedsuch photograph or characteristic. If the verification request came froma different user, verification request receiver 330 provides theinformation it received to verification request manager 332. If not,verification request receiver 330 signals video/audio/image manager 334with the verification request serial number.

Ask User who Supplies the Photographs/Characteristics to Verify.

When it receives such information, verification request manager 332provides a conventional message to the user who supplied the photographsor characteristics to be verified, with a link to video/audio/imagemanager 334 that contains the verification request serial number. In oneembodiment, verification request manager 332 instructs the user to clickon the link it provides when the user is at a device coupled to, orattached to, a camera. When the user reviews the message, if the userclicks the link, video/audio/image manager 334 is signaled with theverification request serial number.

Provide Instructions and Record Video/Images.

When signaled with the verification request serial number,video/audio/image manager 334 enables a camera and/or microphone on, orattached to, the user device (not shown) or other device, providesinstructions as described herein, and causes the user's device to recorda video, audio, or other series of images of the user as describedabove. In one embodiment, instructions are selected from a database ofinstructions that are stored in video/audio/image storage 306. In oneembodiment, certain instructions correspond to individualcharacteristics that may be verified, and the instructions selected byvideo/audio/image manager 334 from the database in video/audio/imagestorage 306 are selected in response to the characteristics that wererequested to be verified, as indicated with the verification requestinformation corresponding to the verification request serial numbersstored in photograph/characteristic storage 304. In one embodiment, asvideo/audio/image manager 334 provides instructions, it may also displayto the user one or more of that user's photographs being verified, andrequest the user to position the user's body relative to the camera inthe same position the user was in when the photograph being presented tothat user was taken. In one embodiment, video/audio/image manager 334supplies a user interface to allow the user to indicate the user'slocation in the photograph, for example to distinguish the user fromother people in the photograph if video/audio/image manager 334 detectsmultiple people in the photograph using conventional detectiontechniques. Video/audio/image manager 334 stores the position of theuser into photograph/characteristic storage 304, associated with theidentifier of the photograph. The user's location in the photograph maybe used to verify the user as described herein, and may be displayed bydisplay manager 312 when the user or other users subsequently have thephotograph displayed as described herein. In one embodiment,video/audio/image manager 334 may reside partially in a server andpartially on the user's device, or all in one or the other, or both, asany of the other elements of FIG. 3 can.

Allow User to Approve Video/Images or Retry.

After video/audio/image manager 334 has completed providinginstructions, video/audio/image manager 334 stops the user's device fromrecording additional video, audio or images, and displays the images, orplays back the video and/or audio, to the user on the user's device.Video/audio/image manager 334 displays a user interface to allow theuser to accept the video, audio or set of images, or to retry with adifferent video, audio or set of images.

If the user uses the user interface to retry, video/audio/image manager334 causes the video, audio or set of images recorded to be discarded,and repeats the process of providing instructions and recording a video,audio or series of images as described above. As noted, the instructionsat a subsequent try may be different than the ones provided at theprevious try or all prior tries from the same user for the sameverification serial number. In such embodiment, there may be multipleinstructions stored in the database of instructions in video/audio/imagestorage 306 for each characteristic that can be verified, with adifferent one or more such instructions for each characteristic beingselected at each retry. In one embodiment, video/audio/image manager 334stores the identifier of the photograph or an index of thecharacteristic to which the instructions correspond together with thetime relative to the start of the video, or an identifier of the imagecaptured around such time, that such instructions were given. Suchinformation is stored associated with the request serial number inphotograph/characteristic storage 304.

Upload Video/Images When Approved.

If the user uses the user interface to accept the video, audio or seriesof images, video/audio/image manager 334 uploads the video, audio orseries of images to video/audio/image storage 306 and associates thevideo, audio or series of images with the verification request serialnumber it received, and signals moderator manager 340 with that serialnumber.

Verify Photograph/Characteristic Using Video/Images

When it receives the serial number, moderator manager 340 locates theinformation associated with the serial number stored inphotograph/characteristic storage 304, identifies the user from whichthe photographs and/or characteristics being verified were received, andidentifies such photographs and/or characteristics inphotograph/characteristic storage 304. Moderator manager 340 uses thevideo, audio or images associated with the serial number invideo/audio/image storage 306 to display to a moderator the video or theseries of images and/or provide the audio, together with the photographor characteristic that corresponds to the point in time of the video,audio or the image in the series of images, using the timing or imagecorrespondence information described above, that is stored inphotograph/characteristic storage 304.

Moderator manager 340 provides user interface elements with eachcharacteristic and/or photograph being verified, to allow the moderatorto indicate whether or not to verify each such photograph and/orcharacteristic as described above. Moderator manager 340 stores theindication as to whether the moderator verified or did not verify eachcharacteristic and/or photograph in photograph/characteristic storage304 for each photograph or characteristic being verified, associatedwith such photograph or characteristic. In one embodiment, moderatormanager 340 stores the date and time of the verification with theindication that the photograph and/or characteristic has been verifiedinto photograph/characteristic storage 304 associated with theidentifier of the photograph or index of the characteristic verified,optionally with an indication as to whether the information associatedwith the verification serial number indicates that the user whorequested verification is the same user as the user who supplied thephotograph or the characteristic. After all photographs and/orcharacteristics corresponding to the verification request have beenverified in this manner, moderator manager 340 provides the verificationserial number to verification notification manager 354, and in oneembodiment, deletes the video or series of images, in one embodiment,after a delay period (e.g. 1 day) to allow the verification using thesame video, audio or series of images.

In one embodiment, moderator manager 340 uses the techniques describedabove to automatically provide verification suggestions to the moderatoras to whether the photograph or characteristic should or should not beverified to the moderator with each photograph and/or characteristic itdisplays. In another embodiment, the suggestions of moderator manager340 are assumed always taken by the moderator (and stored as if themoderator had verified or not verified each photograph or characteristicas described above), without any user input of the moderator, exceptthat in one embodiment, occasionally moderator manager 340 providessuggestions, which the moderator must take action to accept or reject inorder to verify or not verify the photograph or characteristic. In oneembodiment, moderator manager 340 identifies a confidence score witheach suggestion it provides, with a higher confidence score indicatingmore confidence in the suggestion. In such embodiment, suggestions witha confidence score above a threshold are automatically treated as ifthey were taken by a moderator by moderator manager 340 without userinput, and otherwise suggestions are displayed to a human moderator withthe user interface controls described above to allow the moderator toverify or not verify the photograph or characteristic.

Notify User Who Supplied Photographs/Characteristics.

When verification notification manager 354 receives the verificationserial number, it looks up the identifier of the user who supplied thephotographs and/or characteristics for which the at least the attempt atverification was made, determines if all of the photographs and/orcharacteristics being verified corresponding to the verification serialnumber were verified using the information in photograph/characteristicstorage 304 as described herein, and notifies that user (e.g. via aconventional message such as an e-mail message) whether the verificationsucceeded. If the verification did not succeed, verificationnotification manager 354 provides the same link to video/audio/imagemanager 334 with the verification serial number as described above(except that in one embodiment, the link contains embedded informationsuch as REST information that informs video/audio/image manager 344 thatthis is a retry) and suggests that the user replace the photos and/orcharacteristics with those that are more accurate and retry theverification process, or retry the verification process in a manner thatmakes verification more likely, such as using brighter light for thevideo or images or other suggestions. In one embodiment, if the usersubsequently deletes one or more photographs for which verification wasrequested but not verified and adds one or more other photographs, ifthe user clicks the link above, video/audio/image manager 344 will addthe identifiers of any new photographs with the identifiers of thephotographs in photograph/characteristic storage 304 that correspond tothe verification serial number it received, and deletes fromphotograph/characteristic storage 304 identifiers of photographsassociated with the verification serial number it received, but forwhich the photographs were deleted. The process described herein is thenrepeated and performed using the verification serial number forphotographs and/or characteristics that were not verified within thethreshold amount of time.

Notify User who Requested Verification if Different.

Verification notification manager 354 additionally checks the useridentifiers associated with the verification serial number it receives.If the user identifiers are different, verification notification manager354 sends a message such as an e-mail message identifying the one ormore photographs and/or characteristics verified to the user whorequested the verification.

In one embodiment, unless all photographs and/or characteristics forwhich verification was requested are verified, verification notificationmanager 354 waits a period of time such as one day before notifying theuser who requested verification to allow the user being verified toretry the verification process or change the photographs and/orcharacteristic values and retry the verification process. In suchembodiment, verification notification manager 354 notifies the user whorequested verification of all photographs and/or characteristicsverified, and optionally indicates which photographs and/orcharacteristics were replaced and then successfully verified, using theinformation associated with the verification serial number inphotograph/characteristic storage 304.

Subsequent Views of the Photographs and/or Characteristics may haveUpdated Symbols.

When photograph/characteristic display manager 312 subsequently displaysthe photographs and characteristics, it uses the information inphotograph/characteristic storage 304 to display them with the symbolsdescribed above, indicating whether the photographs or characteristicshave been verified, and/or whether a verification request was made andthe date of that request.

In one embodiment, if any photographs or characteristics of a user areverified, when the user's identifier is displayed to any user by userinterface manager 308, user interface manager 308 will also display oneor more symbols indicating that at least one such photograph and/or onesuch characteristic of that user are verified, even user interfacemanager 308 is not presently displaying a verified photograph orcharacteristic, so that the user viewing such information may determinewhich users to investigate more fully.

In one embodiment, the position of a user in search results listed byuser interface manager 308 is altered to be higher up than it wouldotherwise be, if any of the photographs and/or characteristics of thatuser have been verified, as described above.

In one embodiment, user interface manager 308 matches users using theircharacteristics, and sends one or both matched user a message thatindicates the other user with which that user was matched. In oneembodiment, a user who has a threshold amount or percentage ofphotographs and/or characteristics verified as described herein will bematched with more users or only with users who also have a thresholdamount of photographs and/or characteristics verified, by user interfacemanager 308.

Summary.

Described is a method of verifying registration information, including:receiving information about a user of a website, including purportedcharacteristics of the user of the web site for display to other usersof the web site, and/or at least one photograph purported to representthe user of the web site for display to other users of the web site;providing at least one instruction to the user of the web siterequesting the user to pose in a certain manner while causing at leastone image to be recorded of the user posing in the manner; receiving theseries of images recorded, either simultaneously with their recording orthereafter; providing the series of images to a moderator and at leastone of the purported characteristics and/or at least one of the at leastone photograph from the information about the user of the web site;receiving an indication from the moderator whether the series of imagesof the user at least correspond to the at least one of the purportedcharacteristics and/or the at least one of the at least one photographprovided to the moderator; and providing data for rendering to otherusers of the web site a human-perceptible indication that the at leastone of the purported characteristics and/or at least one of the at leastone photograph of the information about the user of the web site havebeen verified, responsive to the indication received.

The method optionally includes a feature whereby at least a portion ofthe moderator comprises a human moderator.

The method optionally includes a feature whereby the at least one of thepurported characteristics and/or the at least one of the at least onephotograph comprises the at least one of the purported characteristic.

The method optionally includes a feature whereby the at least one of thepurported characteristics and/or the at least one of the at least onephotograph comprises the at least one photograph.

The method optionally includes a feature whereby the at least oneinstruction to the user of the web site is provided in response to arequest received from the user of the web site.

The method optionally includes a feature whereby the at least oneinstruction to the user of the web site is provided in response to arequest received from another user of the web site, different from theuser of the web site.

The method may additionally include: providing for display to the userof the web site, the series of images; and receiving from the user anapproval of the series of images; and optionally includes a featurewhereby the providing data for rendering to other users step isresponsive to the approval of the series of images received.

The method optionally includes a feature whereby the providing data forrendering to other users step is responsive to an amount of timebetween: the providing data for rendering to other users step; and thereceiving the series of images step or the receiving the indicationstep.

Described is a system of verifying registration information, including:a photograph/characteristic receiver having an input for receivinginformation about a user of a website, including purportedcharacteristics of the user of the web site for display to other usersof the web site, and/or at least one photograph purported to representthe user of the web site for display to other users of the web site, thephotograph/characteristic receiver for providing at an output theinformation about the user of the web site; an instruction managerhaving an output for providing at least one instruction to the user ofthe web site requesting the user to pose in a certain manner whilecausing via the instruction manager output at least one image to berecorded of the user posing in the manner; a video/audio/image managerhaving an input for receiving the series of images recorded, eithersimultaneously with their recording or thereafter, the video/audio/imagemanager for providing at an output the series of images recorded; amoderator manager having an input coupled to the video/audio/imagemanager for receiving the series of images recorded, and to thephotograph/characteristic receiver output for receiving the informationabout the user of the web site, the moderator manager for providing atan output the series of images for display to a moderator and at leastone of the purported characteristics and/or at least one of the at leastone photograph from the information about the user of the web site, forreceiving from the moderator at the moderator manager input anindication whether the series of images of the user at least correspondto the at least one of the purported characteristics and/or the at leastone of the at least one photograph provided to the moderator, and forproviding at the moderator manager output the indication; and aphotograph/characteristic display manager having an input coupled to themoderator manager output for receiving the indication and to thephotograph/characteristic output for receiving the information about theuser of the web site, the photograph/characteristic display manager forproviding data for rendering to other users of the web site ahuman-perceptible indication that the at least one of the purportedcharacteristics and/or at least one of the at least one photograph fromthe information about the user of the web site have been verified,responsive to the indication received at the photograph/characteristicdisplay manager input.

The system optionally includes a feature whereby at least a portion ofthe moderator comprises a human moderator.

The system optionally includes a feature whereby the at least one of thepurported characteristics and/or the at least one of the at least onephotograph comprises the at least one of the purported characteristic.

The system optionally includes a feature whereby the at least one of thepurported characteristics and/or the at least one of the at least onephotograph comprises the at least one photograph.

The system may additionally include a verification request managerhaving an input coupled to receive a verification request from the userof the web site, the verification request manager for providing at anoutput a signal responsive to receipt of the verification request; andoptionally includes a feature whereby: the instruction manager input isadditionally coupled to the verification request manager output forreceiving the signal; and the at least one instruction to the user ofthe web site is provided by the instruction manager in response to thesignal received at the instruction manager input.

The system may additionally include a verification request managerhaving an input coupled to receive from another user of the web site,different from the user of the web site, a verification requestspecifying the user of the web site, the verification request managerfor providing at an output a signal identifying the user of the web siteresponsive to receipt of the verification request; and optionallyincludes a feature whereby: the instruction manager input isadditionally coupled to the verification request manager output forreceiving the signal; and the at least one instruction to the user ofthe web site is provided by the instruction manager in response to thesignal received at the instruction manager input.

The system optionally includes a feature whereby: the video/audio/imagemanager is additionally for: providing via the video/audio/image manageroutput for display to the user of the web site, the series of images;and receiving from the user via the video/audio/image manager input anapproval of the series of images; and the photograph/characteristicdisplay manager provides data for rendering to other users responsive tothe approval of the series of images received.

The system optionally includes a feature whereby: the moderator manageradditionally provides at the moderator manager output an firstidentification of substantially when the indication was received and/orthe video/audio/image manager additionally provides at thevideo/audio/image manager output a second identification ofsubstantially when the series of images was received; thephotograph/characteristic display manager input is additionally forreceiving the first identification and/or is additionally coupled to thevideo/audio/image manager output for receiving the secondidentification; the photograph/characteristic display manager providesdata for rendering to other users responsive to an amount of timebetween: a time or day near or when the photograph/characteristicdisplay manager provides the data for rendering to other users; and thefirst and/or second identifications.

Described is a computer program product including a computer useablemedium having computer readable program code embodied therein forverifying registration information, the computer program productincluding computer readable program code devices configured to cause acomputer system to: receive information about a user of a website,including purported characteristics of the user of the web site fordisplay to other users of the web site, and/or at least one photographpurported to represent the user of the web site for display to otherusers of the web site; provide at least one instruction to the user ofthe web site requesting the user to pose in a certain manner whilecausing at least one image to be recorded of the user posing in themanner; receive the series of images recorded, either simultaneouslywith their recording or thereafter; provide the series of images to amoderator and at least one of the purported characteristics and/or atleast one of the at least one photograph from the information about theuser of the web site; receive an indication from the moderator whetherthe series of images of the user at least correspond to the at least oneof the purported characteristics and/or the at least one of the at leastone photograph provided to the moderator; and provide data for renderingto other users of the web site a human-perceptible indication that theat least one of the purported characteristics and/or at least one of theat least one photograph of the information about the user of the website have been verified, responsive to the indication received.

The computer program product optionally includes a feature whereby atleast a portion of the moderator comprises a human moderator.

The computer program product optionally includes a feature whereby theat least one of the purported characteristics and/or the at least one ofthe at least one photograph comprises the at least one of the purportedcharacteristic.

The computer program product optionally includes a feature whereby theat least one of the purported characteristics and/or the at least one ofthe at least one photograph comprises the at least one photograph.

The computer program product optionally includes a feature whereby theat least one instruction to the user of the web site is provided inresponse to a request received from the user of the web site.

The computer program product optionally includes a feature whereby theat least one instruction to the user of the web site is provided inresponse to a request received from another user of the web site,different from the user of the web site.

The computer program product may additionally include computer readableprogram code devices configured to cause the computer system to: providefor display to the user of the web site, the series of images; andreceive from the user an approval of the series of images; andoptionally includes a feature whereby the computer readable program codedevices configured to cause a computer system to provide data forrendering to other users are responsive to the approval of the series ofimages received.

The computer program product optionally includes a feature whereby thecomputer readable program code devices configured to cause the computersystem to provide data for rendering to other users are responsive to anamount of time approximately between: operation of computer readableprogram code devices configured to cause the computer system to providedata for rendering to other users; and operation of the computerreadable program code devices configured to cause the computer system toreceive the series of images or operation of the computer readableprogram code devices configured to cause the computer system to receivethe indication.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of verifying registration information, comprising: receiving information about a user of a website, including purported characteristics of the user of the web site for display to other users of the web site, and/or at least one photograph purported to represent the user of the web site for display to other users of the web site; providing at least one instruction to the user of the web site requesting the user to pose in a certain manner while causing at least one image to be recorded of the user posing in the manner; receiving the at least one image recorded, either simultaneously with their recording or thereafter; providing the at least one image to a moderator and at least one of the purported characteristics and/or at least one of the at least one photograph from the information about the user of the web site; receiving an indication from the moderator whether the at least one image of the user at least correspond to the at least one of the purported characteristics and/or the at least one of the at least one photograph provided to the moderator; receiving a request to display information about a plurality of users of the web site who meet a criteria specified as part of the request; and displaying, responsive to the indication, the information about the user as part of a response to the request.
 2. The method of claim 1, additionally comprising providing data for rendering to other users of the web site a human-perceptible indication that the at least one of the purported characteristics and/or at least one of the at least one photograph of the information about the user of the web site have been verified, responsive to the indication received.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the moderator comprises a human moderator.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the purported characteristics and/or the at least one of the at least one photograph comprises the at least one of the purported characteristic.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the purported characteristics and/or the at least one of the at least one photograph comprises the at least one photograph.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one instruction to the user of the web site is provided in response to a request received from the user of the web site.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one instruction to the user of the web site is provided in response to a request received from another user of the web site, different from the user of the web site.
 8. The method of claim 1: additionally comprising: providing for display to the user of the web site, the at least one image; and receiving from the user an approval of the at least one image; and wherein the providing data for rendering to other users step is additionally responsive to the approval of the at least one image received.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing data for rendering to other users step is responsive to an amount of time between: the providing data for rendering to other users step; and the receiving the at least one image step or the receiving the indication step.
 10. A system of verifying registration information, comprising: a photograph/characteristic receiver having an input for receiving information about a user of a website, including purported characteristics of the user of the web site for display to other users of the web site, and/or at least one photograph purported to represent the user of the web site for display to other users of the web site, the photograph/characteristic receiver for providing at an output the information about the user of the web site; an instruction manager having an output for providing at least one instruction to the user of the web site requesting the user to pose in a certain manner while causing via the instruction manager output at least one image to be recorded of the user posing in the manner; a video/audio/image manager having an input for receiving the at least one image recorded, either simultaneously with their recording or thereafter, the video/audio/image manager for providing at an output the at least one image recorded; a moderator manager having an input coupled to the video/audio/image manager for receiving the at least one image recorded, and to the photograph/characteristic receiver output for receiving the information about the user of the web site, the moderator manager for providing at an output the at least one image for display to a moderator and at least one of the purported characteristics and/or at least one of the at least one photograph from the information about the user of the web site, for receiving from the moderator at the moderator manager input an indication whether the at least one image of the user at least correspond to the at least one of the purported characteristics and/or the at least one of the at least one photograph provided to the moderator, and for providing at the moderator manager output the indication; and a user interface manager having an input for receiving a request to display information about a plurality of users of the web site who meet a criteria specified as part of the request, and coupled to the photograph/characteristic receiver output for receiving the information about the user of the web site, the user interface manager for providing at an output for display, responsive to the indication, the information about the user as part of a response to the request.
 11. The system of claim 10, additionally comprising a photograph/characteristic display manager having an input coupled to the moderator manager output for receiving the indication and to the photograph/characteristic output for receiving the information about the user of the web site, the photograph/characteristic display manager for providing data for rendering to other users of the web site a human-perceptible indication that the at least one of the purported characteristics and/or at least one of the at least one photograph from the information about the user of the web site have been verified, responsive to the indication received at the photograph/characteristic display manager input.
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein at least a portion of the moderator comprises a human moderator.
 13. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one of the purported characteristics and/or the at least one of the at least one photograph comprises the at least one of the purported characteristic.
 14. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one of the purported characteristics and/or the at least one of the at least one photograph comprises the at least one photograph.
 15. The system of claim 10: additionally comprising a verification request manager having an input coupled to receive a verification request from the user of the web site, the verification request manager for providing at an output a signal responsive to receipt of the verification request; and wherein: the instruction manager additionally comprises an input coupled to the verification request manager output for receiving the signal; and the at least one instruction to the user of the web site is provided by the instruction manager in response to the signal received at the instruction manager input.
 16. The system of claim 10: additionally comprising a verification request manager having an input coupled to receive from another user of the web site, different from the user of the web site, a verification request specifying the user of the web site, the verification request manager for providing at an output a signal identifying the user of the web site responsive to receipt of the verification request; and wherein: the instruction manager additionally comprises an input coupled to the verification request manager output for receiving the signal; and the at least one instruction to the user of the web site is provided by the instruction manager in response to the signal received at the instruction manager input.
 17. The system of claim 10 wherein: the video/audio/image manager is additionally for: providing via the video/audio/image manager output for display to the user of the web site, the at least one image; and receiving from the user via the video/audio/image manager input an approval of the at least one image; and the photograph/characteristic display manager provides data for rendering to other users responsive to the approval of the at least one image received.
 18. The system of claim 10, wherein: the moderator manager additionally provides at the moderator manager output a first identification of substantially when the indication was received and/or the video/audio/image manager additionally provides at the video/audio/image manager output a second identification of substantially when the at least one image was received; the photograph/characteristic display manager input is additionally for receiving the first identification and/or is additionally coupled to the video/audio/image manager output for receiving the second identification; the photograph/characteristic display manager provides the data for rendering to other users, responsive to an amount of time between: a time or day near or when the photograph/characteristic display manager provides the data for rendering to other users; and the first and/or second identifications.
 19. A computer program product comprising a nontransitory computer useable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for verifying registration information, the computer program product comprising computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer system to: receive information about a user of a website, including purported characteristics of the user of the web site for display to other users of the web site, and/or at least one photograph purported to represent the user of the web site for display to other users of the web site; provide at least one instruction to the user of the web site requesting the user to pose in a certain manner while causing at least one image to be recorded of the user posing in the manner; receive the at least one image recorded, either simultaneously with their recording or thereafter; provide the at least one image to a moderator and at least one of the purported characteristics and/or at least one of the at least one photograph from the information about the user of the web site; receive an indication from the moderator whether the at least one image of the user at least correspond to the at least one of the purported characteristics and/or the at least one of the at least one photograph provided to the moderator; receive a request to display information about a plurality of users of the web site who meet a criteria specified as part of the request; and provide for display, responsive to the indication, the information about the user as part of a response to the request.
 20. The computer program product of claim 19, additionally comprising computer readable program code devices configured to cause the computer system to provide data for rendering to other users of the web site a human-perceptible indication that the at least one of the purported characteristics and/or at least one of the at least one photograph of the information about the user of the web site have been verified, responsive to the indication received.
 21. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein at least a portion of the moderator comprises a human moderator.
 22. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the at least one of the purported characteristics and/or the at least one of the at least one photograph comprises the at least one of the purported characteristic.
 23. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the at least one of the purported characteristics and/or the at least one of the at least one photograph comprises the at least one photograph.
 24. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the at least one instruction to the user of the web site is provided in response to a request received from the user of the web site.
 25. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the at least one instruction to the user of the web site is provided in response to a request received from another user of the web site, different from the user of the web site.
 26. The computer program product of claim 19: additionally comprising computer readable program code devices configured to cause the computer system to: provide for display to the user of the web site, the at least one image; and receive from the user an approval of the at least one image; and wherein the computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer system to provide data for rendering to other users are additionally responsive to the approval of the at least one image received.
 27. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer readable program code devices configured to cause the computer system to provide data for rendering to other users are responsive to an amount of time approximately between: operation of computer readable program code devices configured to cause the computer system to provide data for rendering to other users; and operation of the computer readable program code devices configured to cause the computer system to receive the at least one image or operation of the computer readable program code devices configured to cause the computer system to receive the indication. 